Diet Soda

Is there anything in diet soda that could be detrimental to weight loss?

It depends on who you ask.

I drink Diet Coke (and Coke Zero, and Tab, and ...) and it hasn't hurt my weight loss all that much. I've lost 180+lb since Feb 2007.

Others say the artificial sweeteners activate their sweet tooth. I've never had that problem.

I heard that all the artificial sweeteners can lead to a gathering of flab in the belly, but it could be just a myth.

i havent had any issues with it yet... but i think that some people might have the mind site that just because they drink diet soda they eat some junk through-out the day??  who knows.

I guess it depends on who you ask and how your body takes to it. I noticed if I drink diet soda it makes me hungry...

That's a question I've heard a lot in the last few months.

There's a theory floating around in the scientific community that diet soda and artificial sweeteners make the body crave more suger because the sweetness cues the brain that sugar is incoming, and when it doesn't show up your body wonders why. They back this 'theory' up with the fact that diet soda drinkers are 40% more likely to be overweight than those who drink regular soda.

Of course they are! If you were skinny why not just drink regular soda? Overweight people drink diet because THEY'RE THE ONES ON DIETS.

Realistically, though I have no doubt artificial sweeteners are bad for you (aspartame has been linked to various kinds of cancers, memory loss and migraines), I strongly doubt they'll ahve an impact on your ability to lose weight by themselves. If you binge on doughnuts later and blame it on the soda, yeah, it'll hurt your progress... but as an occassional added treat in a well-managed diet, it shouldn't do you any harm at all.

I think that we can sometimes justify the bad things we eat by drinking a diet soda. For instance, it's okay to indulge a little because we're not getting any extra calories when add a 0 calorie drink.

And what kind of food do we eat with it? For me, it's popcorn or something else just loaded with salt.

But I'm addicted. I've tried to cut back. During the week I've kept it down to one can a day. Weekends are harder, but I feel good if I don't have more than two! Yep, I loves me some diet Coke with Lime.

I don't think diet sodas harm weight-loss but that doesn't exactly make them a good thing to drink all the time.  My very slim, Diet Coke-loving friend was told to cut down by her dentist because the acids were damaging her tooth enamel...   And carbonated drinks in general can make problems with gas or bloating worse than they might be. 

One or two every now and again isn't a problem 

I think CC shouldn't be solely about weight loss, it should be about health too. Diet soda isn't too healthy, it's ok in moderation (yeah cliche) but you shouldn't be downing it multiple times a day.

Original Post by toasttoasttoast:

I think CC shouldn't be solely about weight loss, it should be about health too. Diet soda isn't too healthy, it's ok in moderation (yeah cliche) but you shouldn't be downing it multiple times a day.

 Totally agree. Artificial sweeteners are not good at all. If you are going to eat something sweet better to eat real sugar. There have been quite a few studies done on the dangers of artificial sweeteners. It makes sense to me that processed and fake food is not good. I try to limit it as much as possible.

http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.c fm/sugars__the_ugly

http://www.skinny-on-fat.com/wordpress/?p=10

Real sugar, assuming you're referring to cane sugar,  is highly processed as well. It is not a healthful alternative to artificial sweeteners. Evaporated cane syrup is less processed.

Not everyone on CC is a natural food enthusiast. CC is not about natural food enthusiasm, it is about losing weight in a slow and steady manner. Some may find the way there involves artificial sweetners (like me) and others may find the way there involves a vegan lifestyle and yet someone else may choose yet another way.

I'm all for diet soda, the main reason being, I LOVE SODA.  Before actually paying attention to calories and such I would easily down a can or two of regular soda a day.  Not anymore, now it's all diet soda and bottles upon bottles of water.  Artificial crap in it or not I love it and will continue drinking it.

I just gave up drinking Diet Cola this monday. I drank wayyy too much of it, during the week at least 3-4 cans a day, on the weekends even more. I felt bloated and unhealthy and my mother mentioned something to me about drinking way too much soda so i decided to quit cold turkey. So far this week all i've had are water and decaf coffee.. i miss the fizziness of my soda but i think in the end i will feel healthier and less bloated.

Original Post by jenny8484:

I just gave up drinking Diet Cola this monday. I drank wayyy too much of it, during the week at least 3-4 cans a day, on the weekends even more. I felt bloated and unhealthy and my mother mentioned something to me about drinking way too much soda so i decided to quit cold turkey. So far this week all i've had are water and decaf coffee.. i miss the fizziness of my soda but i think in the end i will feel healthier and less bloated.

Congratulations! I used to work at a pizza joint that gave me free pop all day, as much as I could drink. Yeah, you know I drank gallons of it! And then I felt guilty about that, so I switched to the diet soda. BAD IDEA. Gallons of diet soda really, really bad. Holy cow. I went to the doctor a few weeks later to find out that my intense migraines were a reaction to the incredibly, incredibly high levels of aspartame in my body, so I had to quit soda, too! This was years ago and I still occasionally get splitting headaches from a glass of diet soda. It's insane. I really went overboard.

It's just not good for you. I've really taken to enjoying my green tea, though! ;)

Seriously, we don't know. There is a strong "DIET COKE IS MURDER" vibe that sometimes takes over here, though.

I will never forget the speech from my friend who's a doctor about the biochemistry of aspertane. It was the kind of speech you'd expect ars regards cigarettes. She basically holds that a regular coke is better for you than a diet one because of the chemicals, though, on the same token, sings the praises of Splenda like it was the Second Coming.

I've gone for months without it, I've drank it almost exclusively for months. All of the great differences that people seem to talk about in terms of how it makes them feel I've never felt.

To some extent, I hold some truck with the theory that viyahn proposed, though not on a biological but a psychological level (you think it should do something, but it doesn't). Drinking Diet is like becoming a vegitarian by only eating tofu burgers and setan steaks. If you're a stickler about these things, you're only sublimiating your old ways, rather than building new and better ones.

That so, I don't see why not to. Honestly, who cares if you're getting a little chemical help? We don't equally say "oh, but you can't wear shoes when you run, because technology is unhealthy. And toss out those weights. Here's a rock." By hook or crook, I say. It may be detrimental to weight loss to some extent, but there are one hundred sixty one things more detrimental to weight loss that are worth concerning yourself with before you start fretting the occasional Diet Sprite.

Unless you're going for an uber-healthy diet, cutting out all artificial sweeteners etc, diet soda is okay in moderation. Just don't drink it everyday, or as a habit etc.

Personally I love diet coke if I'm running low on energy or crave something sweet. At the end of the day, it gives me a caffiene boost and it's refreshing. But I drink water 90% of the time and diet sodas are usually just treats at the weekend. :-)

For me Diet Coke is filling so I will drink it occasionally usually in the afternoon when I want a zero cal snack to hold me off until dinner. I also love it with rum or vodka since it adds flavor and helps me have relatively low cal drinks when I'm drinking. As a rule though I usually only have two or three diet cokes a week. I say if it doesn't make you hungry or crave sugar there's no harm in a few a week.

As far as I know there are no reputable studies that have proven anything one way or the other.  There are a lot of crackpot theories about it and a lot of studies that aren't large enough to be conclusive.  No matter what anyone tells you, one way or the other, NOTHING has been proven in a scientifically valid way.

i tried to cut all artificial sweetners from my diet a few weeks ago, but gave up.

the reason i gave up was because honestly, artifical sweetners are what i want as a treat. i don't want a big cheeseburger and fries from mcdonald's, and i don't want a huge brownie covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce, what i want is a sugar-free fudge bar, a diet soda, or a light hot chocolate. THAT'S what i consider my treat.

i was struggling with an ed a year and a half ago, and i've learned now that i just need to have treats in moderation, so i give myself a treat everyday to something that i want and i don't restrict myself. so yes, daily i have either a diet soda, a sugar-free fudge bar, or a light hot chocolate.

when you think about it, eating a huge bacon cheeseburger as a treat, isn't that different from drinking a bottle of diet soda as a treat. the cheeseburger will spike your cholesterol, and the diet soda puts chemicals into your body. both are bad for you.

I am a diet soda drinker and I use Splenda in my tea when I drink it and often wondered about the affects of artificial sweeteners.  If you go on the Internet and do some research, you will find articles for and/or against AS.  What gets me is getting e-mails that are supposed to be informative about the harmful affects (like cancer, memory loss, migraines, MS symptoms, etc.), but all of those e-mails can be validated, or rebuffed, by going to www.snopes.com to see what has been going around.  I find that doing research on things and checking both sides of the coin AND discussing it with my doctor, I have made the decision to drink diet.  The one thing that I did find out (can't remember where I saw it on the net) is that Aspartame is an synthetic amino acid which is found naturally in vegetables and milk.  Our bodies break it down the same way.  And I can tell you that any dietician or doctor that I've talked to said that's fine to drink it.  I even drank diet soda as a treat when I was pregnant with my 3rd child which I had gestational diabetes.  He's 6 now and perfect.

Do I want more sugar or have stronger sugar cravings?  No, I don't think so but each person is different and we can differ from day to day as well.  Just don't deny yourself any of the carbs. or sugar sweets from time to time.  Does that give a person free reign to stuff themselves silly on chocolate BECAUSE of a diet soda?  No, even though it would be oh so much fun.  Its all about balance and eating right, most of the time.

i still drink diet soda when i am craving soda. i drink it less than 1-2 times per week though so i doubt its a big deal. i just hate wasting calories on drinks.